Tamarind from Righteous Orbs founded a World of Warcraft guild for the blogging community, called Single Abstract Noun on the EU RP server Argent Dawn, Horde side. There is also a US chapter. I joined the Euro side with a Tauren shaman, now level 4, and owning 67 copper pieces. My plan for world domination currently involves getting to level 5, learning skinning and mining, and making some money that way.

I'm not quite sure why the guild is called Single Abstract Noun, but my clever guess would be that the single abstract noun in question is "guild". Tamarind had some problems with his previous guild, to who he hadn't advertised the fact that he was blogging, and then was "found out" when blogging about some guild drama. Been there, done that, but reached an understanding with my guild that I would refrain to name them or to rant too obviously about them. Bringing a blog to a forum fight is like bringing a gun to a knife fight, the other parties involved are likely to complain about that not being fair. Given that a blog usually has more readers and links to it than a guild website, a blogger who wanted to could name and shame his guild in a way that a Google search on the guild name would turn up his complaint about that guild as the first hit. World of Matticus discusses the problem.

Single Abstract Noun is not only for bloggers, but also for those otherwise engaged in the blogging community, e.g. frequent commenters. The guild is a social one, with very loose rules, and as many bloggers already have characters and guilds on other servers, you can expect to see a lot of "alts". But hey, hardcore raiding isn't all World of Warcraft is about. The role of MMORPGs as virtual worlds in which to meet and socialize has been neglected a bit in the past years, but I think the idea is coming back. Yesterday's post on World of Farmcraft might have been an extrapolation too far, but MMORPGs getting more features of social networks is pretty much certain for the not-so-far future.
- posted by Tobold Stoutfoot @ 7:22 AM Permanent Link
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Comments:

I think Single Abstract Noun is just a cynical take on all the guilds called things like Absolution, Aftermath, Conviction and all that.

Regarding the concept I think it's worked well before with things like the Casualties of War guild.

Waiting with interest the first blog drama. I wonder if Syncaine will re-sub just to annoy you guys.

Oh, I've joined too, even though I just spent 5 minutes online yesterday. I see it as an online version of The Pink Pigtail Inn - a place for total relaxation. I all but fainted when I saw that you had joined! Hopefully we'll bump into each other at some point.For some reason this idea makes me smile. I've got some social side that needs to be tendered to obviously.

Okay, I fixed the personal pronouns to the male version. Guessing the sex of a person solely by his/her fantasy name is bound to sometimes turn up the wrong result. Not to mention that some people use the name of their character, who has a different gender than the player.

**Okay, this is awkward, your comment system won't accept my Open-ID credentials and my Google account is currently associated with a comedy blog I made for a joke ... so, um, this is Tamarind, not Snottydin**

I just came by to say thank you for coming along and supporting the guild - you should have heard the chorus of "SQUEE!" that erupted the moment you logged off.

I didn't really put much thought into a guild name to be honest - I wanted to avoid "Bloggers Guild" or anything too ostentatiously writerly because it struck me as alienating to people who are as much a part of the blogging communities (readers and commenters) but don't necessarily keep a blog themselves.

And Stabs is right - lately on AD there has been a hilarious upsurge of guilds called things like Redemption and Vehemence and Vindication and so on and so forth. Actually they're perfectly good guild names but too many of them in quick succession induces giggling.

Also currently the only Single Abstract Noun guilds in the world are the blogging communities guilds so - win!

And, finally, no worries on the gender-bending - I get that wrong all the time, and people often refer to me as 'she' which I to take as a compliment :) In fact, I think the only blogger I am sure the get the gender correct for is Ratshag. She's a girl, right?

Well, I wish I could join two guilds in WoW now, I'm already on that server and faction, but happily ensconced in the Ashen Rose Conspiracy. Do you have a custom channel you guys hang out in outside /g at all?

Hi! I finally figured out who I was chatting to :D Nice to meet you this morning.

(And it's not just an AD thing with the guild names - one-word-vaguely-heroic-sounding guilds are very very popular on both servers I usually play on. Just off the top of my head - Vengeance (mine), Prodigy (former), Phase, Recall, Eclipse, Ascendance, Frequency...)

Well, I sent a /tell to Kumquat asking for Tamarind, not realizing that it was the same person. Should have made the tropical fruit connection. :) I decided to name my character Tobold to minimize confusion. Otherwise I like your method of putting the blog URL in the character's public notice. I don't claim I know every WoW blogger out there, maybe I'll find some new blogs. :)